What is | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Youth Engagement
For youth-adult partnerships to be truly valuable and effective, they must be committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Diversity is about what makes us unique and includes our backgrounds, personality, life experiences, and beliefs, all of which make us who we are.
An inclusive culture embraces and celebrates our differences – differences in experiences, backgrounds, and ways of thinking.
Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
Youth-adult partnerships should strive toward equity | DEI in Practice:
- Providing young people the resources needed to succeed in leadership roles (i.e., mentoring, reviewing agendas, professional development).
- Have meetings at times convenient to youth and young adults involved.
- Place equity before diversity and inclusion.
- Go deeper on identity: inequity is rooted in long-established structures and unconscious assumptions. Equity can best be achieved by leaning into various social identities and recognizing that each person brings a unique perspective and background that can be learned from.
- Opening the conversation: Foster an environment that encourages different perspectives, respects different opinions, and values feedback from all youth and diverse experiences.
- Prioritizing safety: protect individuals and their voice by cultivating safe and respectable environments.
- Inclusion is ongoing: continue to evaluate DEI inclusion and promote continual learning.
What does Equity look like?
Additional Resources
- Washington Race Equity & Justice Initiative’s Organizational Race Equity Toolkit.
- The Center for Racial Justice Innovation’s Racial Equity Impact Assessment Guide offers guidance on assessing racial equity.
- GLSEN prepared the Safe Space Kit, a guide to supporting LGBT students in schools.
The Chicago – Why Am I Always Being Researched Guidebook shows how inequities are held in place by power and more.